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STANFORD, Calif. -- LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena addressed the media after his team's 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

(On the team finally rewarding their good performances with goals...)

ARENA: "We did that tonight. It wasn't an easy game. Obviously, it was a great atmosphere for the Earthquakes and for the league. Our guys did well, our young center backs did well defensively, and I think that overall, this was our best effort defensively as a team. This is a game that we deserved to win and we've been certainly pushing our group to perform like this. Great win."

(On the team's ability to bounce back from the Carolina RailHawks loss...)

ARENA: "The game in Carolina, I'm not sure it was a soccer game, whatever the heck that was. We have to accept the responsbility for the result."

(On Tommy Meyer and Kofi Opare...)

ARENA: "They have enough experience and they're primed to play...Tommy was outstanding, the best game of his career."

(On the midfield play...)

ARENA: "Good balance. I thought that Landon did a good job and I think the whole group. This is a night that we've been waiting for where you look around and call it a complete team effort. That's what I'm most pleased about.... We're going to have a tough game on Friday and hopefully, we'll be able to get the guys ready. It's been a tough couple of weeks with all the travel involved. Hopefully, we get them ready for next Friday."

CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy will return to a stadium that has been a house of horrors for them in recent years on Saturday when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes at Stanford Stadium.

At Stanford, the Galaxy have slumped to a 0-2-0 record despite playing the Earthquakes to a pair of highly-entertaining results that saw San Jose win 4-3 in 2012 and 3-2 in 2013. In both instances, the Galaxy earned a two goal lead only to surrender it late and see the crowd at The Farm erupt into bedlam as the Earthquakes emerged victorious.

“It’s a hostile environment where the fans are right on top of you. The field is small and when you have 40,000 fans rooting for the other team, it’s always difficult,” DeLaGarza said of the matches at Stanford. “Those are the games that you get up for though and those are the crowds that you want to play in front of than other stadiums in this league. It’s exciting and always fun when you get to play at such a unique situation.”

With the Galaxy coming off a disappointing 1-0 Extra Time defeat to the Carolina RailHawks that saw them bounced from the U.S. Open Cup, DeLaGarza believes that the time is now for LA to get a victory down on the Farm.

“We’ve been up several times and they’ve come back and beat us,” said DeLaGarza. “We need to be strong and really dig deep.”

“I think that I did okay playing 120 minutes [against Carolina] just four days after getting back from [Ireland],” said Keane after LA's extra time U.S. Open Cup loss to the Carolina RailHawks earlier this week. “It’s not ideal to play 120 minutes, but it is what it is, but you deal with what happens and you get on with it.

Following training on Thursday, LA head coach Bruce Arena asserted that Keane—and Donovan—are dealing with knocks ahead of the California Clasico match.

"They've been behind our group for a long time, in terms of that," Arena said. "They've got a little catching up to do."

Against Germany, Gonzalez enjoyed one of his strongest performances with the U.S. as his positioning and aerial ability helped silence the agile German attack for wide stretches of the game. While Gonzalez was leading the U.S. to qualification, his family was in a far different locale, stranded due to the rain watching his performance on a small phone.

“[Omar’s wife Erica] told me that [his family] were all huddled around some phones streaming the game,” Gonzalez told reporters in Recife. “And so it was a pretty cool experience for them even they though weren’t here. They were all watching and biting their nails in front of this little phone.”

The true measure of Gonzalez’s impact will be measured on Tuesday when Gonzalez may return to the U.S. lineup in the Round of 16 match against Belgium.

Whether or not he gets the start against the Red Devils, however, Gonzalez is pleased with his first showing on the world’s biggest stage.

“My first 90 minutes in a World Cup, there was a lot of emotions there, there were a lot of things going through my head,” said Gonzalez. “But I just wanted to take it one play at a time and just move on from there and if I did mess up, focus on the next play. I was just focused on doing my job and helping this team.”

Landon Donovan may not be in Brazil with the U.S. National Team, but he was among those excited about their advancement to the knockout round on Thursday.

Galaxy teammate Omar Gonzalez started and went 90 minutes as the U.S. lost 1-0 to Germany, but still reached the last 16 as Group G runners-up to the Germans. Following Galaxy practice, Donovan spoke to LAGalaxy.com about the teams performance on Thursday.